Grim toll nearly 90 in Baghdad - Many are victims of sectarian death squads
Grim toll nearly 90 in Baghdad - Many are victims of sectarian death squads
By Liz Sly
Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribunet
Published September 14, 2006
BAGHDAD -- Amid rising political tensions over a proposal to carve Iraq into separate federal regions, nearly 90 people were reported killed Wednesday in an explosion of violence across Baghdad that cast doubt on U.S. claims that the city is on its way to being pacified.
The toll included dozens of corpses found dumped around various Baghdad neighborhoods and the deaths of at least 22 people in a series of bombings and mortar attacks targeting security forces and government institutions.
Many of the bodies were bound, shot execution-style and bore marks of torture--hallmarks of the shadowy death squads haunting the city and claiming more lives than the bombs still exploding with regularity. The U.S. military also reported the deaths of two American soldiers, one of them Tuesday south of Baghdad and one on Monday in the insurgent-filled province of Anbar.
Wednesday's toll was unusually high even by Baghdad's grim standards. Among the reported dead were 65 bodies found in the previous 48 hours, according to The Associated Press.
Gen. Abdul Karim al-Kinani, spokesman for the police National Command Center, said 51 of those were found in the 24-hour period through Wednesday evening, scattered around different Baghdad neighborhoods. The U.S. military said it could confirm the discovery of only 13 bodies, but initial U.S. daily casualty counts are often lower than those provided by Iraqi police and health institutions because U.S. forces are not routinely present in all Baghdad areas.
Most of the bodies were found in the predominantly Sunni western half of the capital, with a smaller number found in the mostly Shiite eastern side. Sunni political leaders say that a majority of the victims are Sunnis, and that they are being targeted by death squads either with ties to the Shiite-dominated Interior Ministry or to powerful Shiite militias.
With an average of around 50 people still dying every day in Baghdad, the relentless violence is jeopardizing U.S. hopes that a new security operation in the capital, launched with much fanfare, will succeed in tamping down the bloodletting. Operation Together Forward saw the deployment of an additional 3,000 U.S. troops to Baghdad.
U.S. military officials say the effort does appear to have produced results in the five or so key neighborhoods targeted, almost all of them in the predominantly Sunni western half of the capital. "In the focused areas we have cleared and identified as having a propensity for violence, the violence has definitely fallen," said Lt. Col. Jonathan Withington, spokesman for U.S. forces in Baghdad.
The overall surge in violence also coincides with mounting political tensions as the nation's lawmakers grapple with the contentious issue of federalism, one that underpins much of the rivalry behind the tit-for-tat killings of Sunnis and Shiites.
The Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI, one of the leading Shiite political groups in the governing alliance, said it would push ahead with plans to introduce legislation at next Tuesday's parliamentary session providing mechanisms for the creation of a powerful new administrative entity in oil-rich southern Iraq. The proposal has drawn strong opposition from several powerful Shiite leaders.
Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the country's leading Shiite religious figure, refused to endorse the plan at a meeting earlier this week with SCIRI leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, urging the Shiite-led government to focus instead on providing security and services to Iraqis.
Moqtada Sadr, the firebrand cleric who commands the powerful Shiite Mahdi Army militia blamed by Sunnis for many of the killings in Baghdad, also has come out in opposition to the federal proposal.
The Shiite and Kurdish blocs jointly command the 51 percent majority that would be required to pass the legislation over Sunni objections. But with rifts in the dominant Shiite alliance, the chances of that happening appear to be receding.
A meeting of top political leaders Wednesday failed to secure a consensus on ways to delay the divisive legislation. Leaders plan to gather again Saturday to discuss a proposal to delay the constitutionally mandated six-month deadline, which expires Oct. 22, for Iraq's parliament to create the federal regions.
The plan is fiercely opposed by Sunnis because it would effectively divide Iraq into three parts, creating a virtually autonomous Shiite mini-state in the overwhelmingly Shiite southern half of Iraq, similar to the Kurdish region that already exists in the far north. Sunnis, accustomed to governing Iraq for centuries, would be left with just the central part of the country, mostly comprising deserts where there is no oil.
Fueling Sunni suspicions of the project, al-Maliki is currently visiting Iran, which helps fund the Shiite militias in Iraq, including the Badr Organization, which is affiliated with SCIRI. But at a news conference Wednesday evening, al-Maliki was quoted by Iran's state news agency as saying he had emphasized the importance of "non-interference in domestic affairs of neighboring countries."
On Wednesday, he met Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who told him he hoped to see the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq soon.
Meanwhile, the chief judge in Hussein's trial in Baghdad, Abdullah al-Amiri, brushed aside prosecution demands to step down for letting the ousted president make political statements.
Chief prosecutor Minqith al-Faroon took offense at Hussein's remarks during Tuesday's session, when the ousted president lashed out at "agents of Iran and Zionism" and threatened to "crush the heads" of his accusers.
Al-Amiri refused to step aside and ordered the trial to continue.
----------
lsly@tribune.com
By Liz Sly
Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribunet
Published September 14, 2006
BAGHDAD -- Amid rising political tensions over a proposal to carve Iraq into separate federal regions, nearly 90 people were reported killed Wednesday in an explosion of violence across Baghdad that cast doubt on U.S. claims that the city is on its way to being pacified.
The toll included dozens of corpses found dumped around various Baghdad neighborhoods and the deaths of at least 22 people in a series of bombings and mortar attacks targeting security forces and government institutions.
Many of the bodies were bound, shot execution-style and bore marks of torture--hallmarks of the shadowy death squads haunting the city and claiming more lives than the bombs still exploding with regularity. The U.S. military also reported the deaths of two American soldiers, one of them Tuesday south of Baghdad and one on Monday in the insurgent-filled province of Anbar.
Wednesday's toll was unusually high even by Baghdad's grim standards. Among the reported dead were 65 bodies found in the previous 48 hours, according to The Associated Press.
Gen. Abdul Karim al-Kinani, spokesman for the police National Command Center, said 51 of those were found in the 24-hour period through Wednesday evening, scattered around different Baghdad neighborhoods. The U.S. military said it could confirm the discovery of only 13 bodies, but initial U.S. daily casualty counts are often lower than those provided by Iraqi police and health institutions because U.S. forces are not routinely present in all Baghdad areas.
Most of the bodies were found in the predominantly Sunni western half of the capital, with a smaller number found in the mostly Shiite eastern side. Sunni political leaders say that a majority of the victims are Sunnis, and that they are being targeted by death squads either with ties to the Shiite-dominated Interior Ministry or to powerful Shiite militias.
With an average of around 50 people still dying every day in Baghdad, the relentless violence is jeopardizing U.S. hopes that a new security operation in the capital, launched with much fanfare, will succeed in tamping down the bloodletting. Operation Together Forward saw the deployment of an additional 3,000 U.S. troops to Baghdad.
U.S. military officials say the effort does appear to have produced results in the five or so key neighborhoods targeted, almost all of them in the predominantly Sunni western half of the capital. "In the focused areas we have cleared and identified as having a propensity for violence, the violence has definitely fallen," said Lt. Col. Jonathan Withington, spokesman for U.S. forces in Baghdad.
The overall surge in violence also coincides with mounting political tensions as the nation's lawmakers grapple with the contentious issue of federalism, one that underpins much of the rivalry behind the tit-for-tat killings of Sunnis and Shiites.
The Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI, one of the leading Shiite political groups in the governing alliance, said it would push ahead with plans to introduce legislation at next Tuesday's parliamentary session providing mechanisms for the creation of a powerful new administrative entity in oil-rich southern Iraq. The proposal has drawn strong opposition from several powerful Shiite leaders.
Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the country's leading Shiite religious figure, refused to endorse the plan at a meeting earlier this week with SCIRI leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, urging the Shiite-led government to focus instead on providing security and services to Iraqis.
Moqtada Sadr, the firebrand cleric who commands the powerful Shiite Mahdi Army militia blamed by Sunnis for many of the killings in Baghdad, also has come out in opposition to the federal proposal.
The Shiite and Kurdish blocs jointly command the 51 percent majority that would be required to pass the legislation over Sunni objections. But with rifts in the dominant Shiite alliance, the chances of that happening appear to be receding.
A meeting of top political leaders Wednesday failed to secure a consensus on ways to delay the divisive legislation. Leaders plan to gather again Saturday to discuss a proposal to delay the constitutionally mandated six-month deadline, which expires Oct. 22, for Iraq's parliament to create the federal regions.
The plan is fiercely opposed by Sunnis because it would effectively divide Iraq into three parts, creating a virtually autonomous Shiite mini-state in the overwhelmingly Shiite southern half of Iraq, similar to the Kurdish region that already exists in the far north. Sunnis, accustomed to governing Iraq for centuries, would be left with just the central part of the country, mostly comprising deserts where there is no oil.
Fueling Sunni suspicions of the project, al-Maliki is currently visiting Iran, which helps fund the Shiite militias in Iraq, including the Badr Organization, which is affiliated with SCIRI. But at a news conference Wednesday evening, al-Maliki was quoted by Iran's state news agency as saying he had emphasized the importance of "non-interference in domestic affairs of neighboring countries."
On Wednesday, he met Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who told him he hoped to see the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq soon.
Meanwhile, the chief judge in Hussein's trial in Baghdad, Abdullah al-Amiri, brushed aside prosecution demands to step down for letting the ousted president make political statements.
Chief prosecutor Minqith al-Faroon took offense at Hussein's remarks during Tuesday's session, when the ousted president lashed out at "agents of Iran and Zionism" and threatened to "crush the heads" of his accusers.
Al-Amiri refused to step aside and ordered the trial to continue.
----------
lsly@tribune.com
posted by Carlos T Mock @ 10:44 AM
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